A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

"Why are you so nice to Levy?!"

"Levy is cute, you're not as cute as Levy."

"I have!"

"Produce evidence..." Bray scanned Naruko's entire body with dead fish eyes.

"I'm a beautiful girl!"

“You’re already in your twenties,” Bray bluntly revealed Naruko’s age.

However, Bray paused noticeably when he said this, and it was unclear why.

"I am a beautiful girl who will always be sixteen years old."

“…” Bray looked at Naruko, who was lost in her own world, with a very subtle expression, and then decided to ignore her.

“By the way, we should probably head home now; we’ve had enough fun,” he said to Naruko.

"Are we going back already? I haven't had enough fun yet." Naruko pouted.

"We'll go to the Northern Continent later, provided we have the opportunity," Bray said.

The prerequisite for going to the Northern Continent is that it hasn't been bombed.

Although Queen Dorothea is in the Northern Continent, no one can predict what will happen next.

"Why wouldn't there be a chance?" Naruko didn't think as much as Bray did.

Or rather, even though he saw Bray encounter the monster and heard Nicol Bolas's words, he still didn't feel anything about the global crisis.

Should I call her oblivious? Or something else...?

"The truth is hard to predict." Bray shook his head, not saying much to Naruko.

Bray wouldn't believe it if he heard things like "the world might die" or "we'll all be stuck together and die."

To this day, he still believes there is a way to ease the tension in the world.

"Wait a minute." Naruko paused for a moment, then said something that seemed a bit off.

“I always have a bad feeling about this,” she added.

As if to prove how accurate Naruko's intuition was, Levy, who was holding Nia, suddenly started to get angry.

"Ugh—" Levy and Fireball made the same sound a cat makes when threatening an enemy.

Nia also began to imitate the sound quite well. Just because you can't speak doesn't mean you can't make a sound, right?

At the same time, the once bright sky suddenly darkened.

Bray's lips twitched; he wondered if it was really wrong of him to stay in the Western Continent.

If it weren't for this vacation, he probably would have already returned to the capital with his newly acquired fanny pack.

Bray looked up, his dead fish eyes scrutinizing the culprit that had darkened the sky.

It was a giant eagle covered in grayish-white feathers, and wherever its wings passed, a chilling aura emanated from it.

The Silver Seeds have ruined Paradise, and Bray knows that.

But no one told him that after the Silver race finished with Paradise, they would turn their attention to the Iron race's cities.

If Bray knew that the silver was largely due to Joshua, he would probably have seriously considered whether or not to have the conceptual influence removed from Joshua in the first place.

However, there's no point in thinking about anything now; what was meant to come has already come.

What a coincidence! So coincidental that Bray doesn't even want to complain.

Vidfulnir, according to legend, was responsible for devouring excess dead people when the god of death was still alive.

"Soul Eater" is also the name given to Him in various records.

Of course, it sounds very sophisticated, but back when the Golden Seed was around, He was nothing more than someone in charge of emotional garbage.

However, at this moment when the golden seed is no longer present, it is merely a legend.

Before the "Wandering Tomb" was born and took over the functions of the Golden Seed, Vidfulnir's position was beyond question.

However, with the "Wandering Tomb," the existence of Vidfulnir becomes dispensable.

Now He devours the dead, or rather, He devours souls, simply to satisfy His own desires.

The cry of an eagle echoed over the city where Bray had stayed.

People have never seen such a huge eagle before; its wingspan alone could cover the bridge.

When He stands, He is like a tall tower.

His sharp gaze revealed a longing to savor the soul.

Legend has it that the wings of Vydfulnir could whip up winds so cold they could freeze the soul, and now everyone knows that this is not a legend, but the truth.

The entire city was covered in frost simply because of Widford's passing.

Except for the area within ten meters of the mine, everything was covered with a thin layer of frost.

This frost looks familiar; it's the same kind of frost that never thawed on Joshua back then.

People didn't freeze to death directly, but they were all shivering.

The reason they trembled was not the cold in their bodies, but the illusion that their souls were being pulled away.

It felt as if, if one wasn't careful, their soul would be taken away by something.

Vidfulnir spread his enormous wings and flew to the most prominent tower in the city.

His sharp claws easily crushed the upper part of the tower.

After crushing the upper part of the tower, He leisurely landed on the broken edge, observing what He had designated as the next territory.

Everything that happened in the city came into His view.

Known as the legendary Vidfulnir, the "Soul Eater," he was more like an animal than people imagined.

His actions were no different from those of an ordinary bird of prey.

Is it hard to understand? Actually, it's not hard to understand.

No matter how intelligent or powerful the Silver Race is, it ultimately possesses wildness, or rather, animalistic instincts.

Their essence remains unchanged.

Just like the various races of the Black Iron race, who pride themselves on being different from beasts, they actually reveal animalistic traits in subtle ways.

Ultimately, they are still animals, and ultimately, they have habits that are difficult to change.

It's just that without a community, without civilization, and without morality, the animalistic nature of these silver-blooded people becomes more apparent.

Even Nicholas, the wise man among dragons, actually possessed animalistic instincts in his daily life, only they were concealed by his language.

"Cough cough..." A woman covered in frost, her face growing paler and paler, slowly knelt down on the ground.

“Ah, what is this…” a man murmured in anguish as he curled up on the frost-covered ground.

All sorts of people groaned in pain in various postures as something with human-like outlines was forcibly torn from their bodies.

These are probably what is called the soul.

After their souls completely left their bodies, their suffering ended, and so did their lives.

The countless souls that were pulled out all rushed toward Widford's side.

Without opening his mouth, those souls merged into every feather of His.

This is His way of eating, a "noble" way of eating.

Previously, He could only devour the excess dead, but gradually, He became more indulgent and began to prey on the souls of the living.

He is a demigod, and the Ironborn are not ants to Him, but bread.

Who cares what bread thinks? Who counts how much bread they've eaten?

However, for Bray and his companions, the Black Iron Seed was not bread.

"Really, they're worthless." Bray shook his head as he looked at the lives taken away as easily as mowing grass.

If he could save them, he thought he would try to.

Unfortunately, he couldn't; he couldn't save anyone.

Taking away a life is far, far more difficult than saving one.

He would never think he was anything special because he was just a henchman.

What truly deserves respect is someone like Father Thun, who can save people.

“Ugh—” Levy glared fiercely at the giant eagle standing atop the broken tower.

Naruko, who had been laughing, could no longer laugh.

In just a few breaths, a city that was once perfectly fine has become like this.

"Is this place going to be finished too?" Bray sighed.

“…” Naruko grabbed Bray’s hand and shook her head seriously, seemingly disagreeing with Bray’s words.

He gave Naruko a deep look.

If you call her naive, she really is naive.

But to say she sees things clearly is an understatement; in many ways, she truly understands them perfectly.

Naruko didn't want Bray to do anything; she just wanted to remind him of something.

She was reminding Bray not to jump to conclusions or presume to condemn other things.

“…” Bray raised his right eyelid and stared at the unreliable former young lady of the Eastern Continent.

"Let's get out of here first," he said.

Bray needed to estimate the scope of influence of this giant eagle concept first, otherwise, the safety of Naruto and the others would be questionable once he left.

As he said this, he turned and walked away from the giant eagle without looking back.

The wailing sounds all around seemed to have no effect on Bray.

Naruko and Levy led Nia to walk behind Bray.

As he walked, Bray took out bandages from his pouch and began wrapping them around his hands.

Bray used to never wear bandages on his hands, but he still had some injuries on his body. Although they didn't affect his combat ability, he needed to take some precautions.

Bandaging the wrist can at least protect the cartilage and wrist muscles, and also prevent slipping.

This would make the grip on the sword feel terrible, but for Bray now, that doesn't matter at all.

"Are we a burden?" Naruko asked, seeing what Bray was about to do.

“First, I need to clarify a few points,” Bray said, pausing for a moment before turning his back to Naruko.

"First, even if I don't say anything, I'm going to fight this bird."

Even if Naruko doesn't say anything, he will still deal with this eagle.

The reason is that this way the western continent might fall at a rate that is one percent slower.

“Secondly, at times like this, everyone will only be a burden to me, without exception.” After saying that, Bray tugged at the bandage, tightening it one last time.

"But so what?" Apple rarely inserts irrelevant things into the book except when it's a single update, but recently, there have been a lot of trolls.

The comments and rant sections are fine; I can delete them. But the book reviews are a real hassle.

However, when you encounter book reviews like this, please ignore them and let the trolls finish their work. Or, you could write a short review of a hundred or two hundred words to support me, which would make me very happy.

If you keep replying to troll book reviews, that review will become a popular one, and the trolls will actually thrive.

Arguing with trolls is pointless; they can just spew insults if they want. After a group of people refute them, the trolls will pretend to be victims, which is childish and annoying. Some bystanders might even genuinely believe the trolls are victims.

I've been writing this book for two years now, and it's been lukewarm at best. Websites have promoted me many times, but the results are what they are – 300 million words and this is pretty much the whole story. Over time, seeing all sorts of trolls and encountering haters and anti-fans, my old utilitarian and irritable mentality has diminished considerably. It's not that I've gotten used to it, but rather that I understand there's no point in clashing with them.

In summary, it's 0v0. Thank you all for your support. Don't pay attention to negative comments; Apple will handle them (it's very skilled). Especially malicious book reviews. Instead of arguing with people who don't make sense, it's better to write some supportive book reviews for Apple. It's still 100 words, right? After all, trolls like people who think they're right in their criticisms. If you say they're wrong, they'll retaliate.

And please give me your monthly vote (emphasis added). Bray stretched his limbs and shook his bandaged hands.

How did he know the correct way to apply a bandage?

Right, it seems to be because of fragments of my past memories.